THE SHELF / 6 books that I read at the end of last year… I hated 5 of them

In my creative writing classes, whether at the University of Toronto or the Hermitage Residency in Bangladesh, I emphasise that any student of fiction must first master suspense

Here is a list of 5 short and swift books for fellow bookworms (people who would much rather stay in than socialise) to nestle in with on this Eid day. 

The youthful adventurers in the story spare no effort in unravelling a mystery that proves as elusive as the unyielding strands of jilapi, while also exploring deeper, sweeter themes such as friendship.

In the latest documentary podcast series “Three Million”, journalist Kavita Puri seeks to answer this haunting question: “How do three million people just disappear?” by talking to some of the last surviving witnesses, including Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. 

The winners were announced on 4 April, 2024, with the ceremony being hosted by Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of the SZBA Board of Trustees

Do you want my hands / Will they be enough to keep you warm

The Covenant of Water by physician and author Abraham Verghese tells the story of three generations of an Orthodox Saint Thomas Christian family in Kerala. Through suffering and loss, triumphs and victories, the importance of familial ties is examined and supported. In the Kerala of the 1940s, blood ties were sacred, but “family” also meant helpers who worked for you. Members of the three-generational family seem to be under a curse which causes its members to drown in water. The mystical power of water in our lives is explored with precision and sensitivity in the novel.

The title of this book suggests that it is based in Bengal but it really meanders deftly across time and space, more often than not in “mazy motion”.

A review of ‘Temple Lamp: Verses on Banaras’ (India Penguin Classics, 2023) by Mirza Ghalib, translated by Maaz Bin Bilal

It is impossible to distinguish when, but I think My loss of faith coincided with your arrival

"Love" did not have me at 'hello' Nor does it cure the cries

Words have crashed onto your shores

Kissing strangers only feels good

I needed to de-escalate.

I love reading about popular inventions which were originally created with a different purpose in mind. For instance, did you know that bubble wrap, that oh-so-ubiquitous packing material that doubles as a stress-relieving toy, was initially intended to be wallpaper? Imagine that! On the one hand, you have hours and hours of bubble-popping fun. On the other hand, probably a trypophobe’s nightmare, so maybe not. Either way, March Chavannes and Alfred Fielding, the co-inventors of the material, thought they had a dud on their hands until IBM started looking for better packing materials for their delicate new computers. The rest is history.

In Deena Mohamed’s Shubeik Lubeik (originally published in 2015 and translated in 2023 by Mohamed herself), wishes have not only drastically altered the fabric of daily life in Egypt, but the world at large.

Though on its surface Sanya Rushdi’s  Hospital, translated into English by Arunava Sinha and recently longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize, looks to be a breezy, short read—it is anything but. With her rather flattened, sparse prose, Rushdi has managed to write an enduring piece of autofiction, a compelling account of psychosis that neither sensationalises nor withers away any sentimentality from the struggles of mental health.

If the country’s literary potential is not given generous support, we may never create favourable conditions for aspiring writers to devote time and energy to the art

'I would like to see more writing coming out of Bangladesh,' Shazia Omar said. 'We are still behind'

I became curious as to how the experience of reading might change for someone who studied it for a living, and how the lens of a literature student might differ from that of a creative writing one